Certifications

There’s a quick summary to this. If you’re not a working Solution Architect then certifications alongside a junior role with support will be of help. If you’re a working junior Solution Architect already then paying for qualifications yourself won’t be of significant help in gaining roles. There are of course exceptions to all of this.

If your employer is paying for certifications then all good, take everything you can get. A five day instructor led course can cost around £4,000. If you want a particular certification and are funding it yourself then there are plenty of web based training services for around £30 per month.

In my experience there are no Solution Architect specific qualifications worth the time or expense in acquiring. The BCS Intermediate and Practitioner Certificate in Solution and Enterprise Architecture for example has what is a basic curriculum and is virtually unknown to those in hiring positions.

Certifications in cloud technologies such as AWS and Azure are of far higher value. Virtually all organisations utilise cloud based infrastructure. TOGAF is well regarded but only of direct value to Enterprise Architects.

There are of course a myriad of other certifications. Zachman, FEAF etc. The key takeaway is, with the exception of the the cloud architect certifications, there’s not much in the way of certifications that are worth the time, cost and effort.

• TOGAF - Of more relevance to the role of Enterprise Architect. It’s certainly worth having an awareness of the basics. However it goes virtually unmentioned during the typical engagements of a Solution Architect. Its verbose nature and references to real world non existent roles such as ‘Segment Architect’ mean it won’t be a significant door opener.
• BCS Intermediate and Practitioner Certificate in Solution and Enterprise Architecture -